Star Trek: Secrets Beyond
by SOWritings
Summary: The year is 2385. The Borg war is finally over. A treaty was signed with the federation. Yet there are still a few rogue ships that have yet to concede to the treaty. A recently charted sector within the Gamma quadrant revealed a semi stable wormhole. It is believed that beyond this point a rogue Borg fleet is building.
1. Mission Statement

Waking to the low chime of her communicator Vai scrunched her eyes, and turned over pulling her pillow in closer to bury her face in it. Her short hair was tussled all about, and parted way around her pointed ears. With the third round of chimes the sound became louder. She grumbled and reached over to answer.

"Captain Page, you are needed back at headquarters."

"Admiral Muchara. What's the occasion." She responded rather casually, trying her best to not sound as though she just woke up.

"We have a assignment for you."

"Oh…?" She was in the midst of collecting her clothes from about the room. A room she was unsure how she got there. Running her fingers through her hair, she scanned the room for her dress uniform jacket. "Local or distant?"

"Distant. Quite distant."

"I'm listening." She responded, as she gently lifted the covers from her still sleeping Denobulan guest, and retrieved her jacket.

"Its sensitive information. Just hurry to headquarters."

"I'll be there soon." She responded quickly as she closed her communicator. Scanning her communicator at the small table next to the door of the hotel room, she left instructions to make any charges to her name, and that her guest may be a asleep for some time. She cracked a slight smile at the thought that last night's activity may have brought about an early hibernation for him. Rummaging through a few of what she believed to be his items, she found his communicator. Flicking over the back micro panel, a small view screen projected his identification. "Lieutenant Threpp, nice to meet you." She returned his things in a neat pile, and quietly left the room.

A little less than an hour later she was walking down the hallway at Starfleet headquarters. She had changed into a fresh new casual uniform. She was pleased with the new look, and that they finally accommodated to her half Vulcan needs for more insulation. Coming up to the conference room she spotted Admiral Muchara, and Admiral 4 of 7 discussing something over a projected screen from his arm.

"Ah, Captain Page, thank you for coming so quickly. We are only waiting on one more-"

Behind Vai a tall Trill male walked in, nearly bumping into her.

"Commander Ten. Perfect. We can begin at once."

Vai raised a brow at his name, but on seeing his neck she spotted a input port on the side of his neck.

Vai took a seat across from Ten, and looked up toward the main screen as Muchara motioned for all the windows of the conference room to drop down filtered screens. Seeing that she even flicked the sound dampeners Vai raised her brow yet again.

4 of 7 stood up, and plugged into the main podium with his arm. "As you are well aware there are still reports of rogue Borg present within the four quadrants. These have been dealt with accordingly. However,recent scout ships within the Gamma quadrant have spotted two cube vessels."

Vai inched forward in her seat and looked intently at the map 4 of 7 had up. The sites they had tracked the ships was a sector of open space with no real outstanding markers. The only near point to them was Meridian.

"On further scans we discovered this." 4 of 7 switched to a carrier probe feed. The probe captured a bright flash, a Borg cube slipping through the flash, then the probe lost connection. "Three separate ships went to recover the probe. The first two Starfleet ships were irreparably damaged, and the third Borg ship barely made it back."

All Starfleet members looked at the screen with shock at the damage of the Borg ship that returned. Borg ships were tough, and for one to receive that much damage from empty space did not make sense.

"What we discovered from our analysis of the footage was an unstable wormhole." The feed from the initial probe was slowed down, and on repeat on the main screen. "We have made attempts to study it, but it has only yielded sporadic and mostly inclusive data."

"The Borg ship that passed through the terminus seems to have some unknown modifications." Ten chimed in, as he brought up some images of the ship on his table screen.

"Correct. We have recently recovered a militant ship in the Beta quadrant that had similar modifications, and retrofitted them to probes. This is what we recovered."

On the screen footage of the probe entering the terminus, bright blue and white light filled the screen, then a violent jump into open space.

"What we are looking at here is the Andromeda galaxy. 4 of 7 continued."

Vai took in a deep breath of wonder, and then quickly began flicking through her charts on her table table screen. "What is its rate of decay?"

"That is where we were pleased to find the initial finding incorrect." Muchara answered with subdued excitement, the wormhole seems to be gaining stability with each cycle. Though there are issues with terminus entry, and most common probe materials used for research."

4 of 7 brought up some new images.

"Through our new alliance we have come together to build a ship that can withstand the terminus, and easily return with no damage." Muchara said pointing to the new ship.

It was a stunning new design, reminiscent of a Defiant class and trident class, but that was about as close as it came to familiarity.

"This is where you come in Captain Page. For the past year we have recorded several jumps of Militant Borg. We are sending you in the new prototype ship USS Argo, to investigate the activities of the Militant Borg, and to insert the 3-5 virus into any ships you come across. Your First Officer will be Commander Ten, and you will have to assign the rest of your limited crew within the next two weeks. Your crew will assemble at DS9, and will be shuttled through to our spacedock within the Gamma quadrant."

Vai showed little concern, considering the weight of this mission. She caught a quick glance of Ten across the table, but did not show any sign of disagreement with Admiral Muchara's decision.

"I am sending you further debriefing files, though I do have a feeling I know that you may wish to rush to your potential science officer. You will possibly need the most time for her." Muchara said with a raised brow.

Vai was looking at the files on her screen. She shook her head at the suggested officer. "I believe you may be right." She scooted her chair back and offered her hand to shake for both Muchara and 4 of 7. "Commander Ten, with me" she ordered after she shook his hand.

As they exited the conference room Ten almost stood a good four inches taller than Vai, though she had such an air of confidence that his height meant nothing. She passively flicked through some files from her pad, and waved to passing officers. Tapping her communicator she arranged for a personal transport vessel. Ten, following closely behind her cocked his head with this arrangement. Vai, not missing this, causally added "with Lal its best to catch her off guard."

Ten gave her a wide eyed look, and slowed his pace. Lal was a bit of an enigma. She had high marks with the academy, but unlike her father, kept to herself, and tended to turn down any assignments that had to do with being part of a crew.

"I was one of the few that worked with her on starbase 173, and she seemed to tolerate me quite well." Vai said, as she entered the elevator. "Dock level," she ordered. "We will be departing immediately, is there anything you require from your lodgings?"

"I can have it sent to DS9."

"Good. I'll be doing the same."

Within the next three hour period they collected any last bit of debriefing material needed for the potential crew candidates, and were departing spacedock on course for a research freighter vessel in the outskirts of the Beta Quadrant.

Vai sat at the helm, the autopilot was initiated, but she was busy looking over the data of their destination. The silence of her newly appointed first officer was starting to get to her. Though from the few conversations she was able to successfully initiate, they were dry and professional. Feeling the exhaustion hit her from the previous night's lack of sleep, she glanced over her padd once more. Shaking her head she knew that however much she prepared for her meeting with Lal it was a 50/50 chance.

"Okay… I think I will get some rest. You have the helm Commander."

"Captain… may I ask you something?"

Via looked over to him. He looked a little troubled, and perhaps had prepared his query for some time now.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Captains get the luxury of picking their first officer. Why did you accept this arrangement?"

She smiled at this, something that looked so utterly contradictory for half her species. "I lost a bet in a card game against Muchara back when I was her First Officer."

Ten looked utterly dumbfounded at this response.

Via was pleased by this, and decided to leave it for now. She gave him a firm pat on the shoulder and told him, "you have the helm Commander," and continued to the back bunks to get some rest.

Though her first officer may have been having some serious issues with her answer, she trusted Admiral Muchara. Vai had heard of Ten from other captains he had served under, and she almost read over his file twice now. The only red flag to her were his three commissions under four separate captains in just the last two years. There were no reports explaining the jumps. But it defiantly stood out.

Laying back in her bunk she closed her padd, and laid it on her chest. Taking in a deep breath she yawned. She was looking forward to her nap.


	2. Chapter 2

Hours later they had docked their vessel, and were walking down the narrow catwalk to the main research facility. But before they made it to the double doors at the end of the hall they opened, and there stood Lal with a quizzical brow. "Commander Page."

"Captain Page now."

Lal gave a quick peevish look, knowing that this wasn't a house call. "State the nature of your emergency." She said in her best representation people figured an android would speak.

"Awwww, Lal don't demean your species. You know us Vulcan's find that most illogical."

There was a long awkward pause with this. Ten stood back, and observed this spectacle. He had heard of Lal's difficult nature, and was shocked that this was the captain's method of addressing her.

The captain and Lal shared a emotionless glare at one another, but Lal was the first to break into a laugh.

"Dammit Vai! If only I could erase the memories of your explanation on the serious Vulcan stare."

"You nearly had me this time." Vai said giving Lal a hug in greeting.

Ten marveled at this 180 degree shift in mood. And could not hide his wide eyed expression at all. It was only when Lal acknowledged him that he came back to his usual stoic expression.

"And who might this be?"

"Ah.. yes this is Commander Ten, my First Officer."

Lal gave him a quick once over. "So this is Muchara's pick?"

Via sighed, giving a quick nod.

Lal still looking him over, or rather looking through a data stream in her files, finally returned to the moment and offered her hand in greeting. "Greetings Commander Lillix Varid, or Lillix Reti?"

Ten's hand quaked for a second with this greeting, but he held his composure. "I prefer Ten." He stated with a hollow tone.

Lal kept eye contact with him during this exchange. Though she had a tiny stature, and delicate features, her eyes had a power to them. One that nearly made him buckle.

"So Captain, you can't be here just to say hi. What do you want?" Lal said looking over her shoulder to Vai.

Vai gave her a shifty smile.

Lal sighed. "Give me the files."

Vai produced a padd from her inner jacket pocket. "Wanna be my Science Officer?"

"Official as always," Lal stated with sarcasm as she quickly scanned over the padd, opening the double doors to the facility.

The room they entered was massive, with displays lining the walls, and interestingly the ceiling too.

"Guess the luxury of being here alone is you can make any adjustments you like to the facility." Vai said pointing up at the ceiling.

"Oh. That was to ensure I kept this commission… to myself." Lal answered as she began bringing up the schematics of the USS Argo.

Ten walked around looking over the screens. All of it was just logged data that was basic to most ships. It was just a data hub that bounced information throughout the galaxy. He smirked at the notion that Starfleet had one of the most advanced beings in its command operating as a glorified mailroom sorter.

"This ship is fascinating. 30 shield emitters, 300 programmable sensor arrays, and a dual warp engine capable of warp 9.9 and... a transwarp engine?"

"Interested in taking the commission?" Vai questioned with an arched eyebrow.

Lal bit at her lower lip. She would if it were a solo mission, but she abhorred large crews.

"Ships compliment will not exceed 50 personnel. The rest will be holographic temp officers and staff." Vai added, knowing she would be pushing the right buttons with this bit of information.

Lal looked over the different staff counts for each department.

"Your crew can be all holograms." Vai said as she gripped Lal's shoulders from behind, as if to give her a nice shoulder massage.

"Fine… I'll do it." Lal grumbled low.

"What was that?" Vai joked, clearly capable of hearing Ten's pulse from across the room.

"Captain Page, you have your Science Officer.

"Excellent. How soon can we leave?"

"Already sent a request for someone to fill my position. Let me just activate the temporary hologram program." Lal flicked a few keys, slid her seat over to another station. "Here we go."

A beam came down toward the main doors, and a figure appeared within it. Ten, who just happened to be closest was the first to behold this perfect copy of Lal standing in front of him. Though his first reaction was to immediately turn away due to the hologram missing all its clothes.

"Lieutenant, there might be a problem with the hologram." Ten stated as the nude hologram kept tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh right…." Lal inputted a few codes on the command line. After she did this a communicator badge appeared on the still naked holo Lal.

"You're going to leave it like that aren't ya?" Vai asked crossing her arms and smiling.

"Yup. I can't wait to get the security feed footage when my replacement arrives."

"Well… we got a few stops before we board the Argo. Better head out." Vai said now standing in front of holo Lal, so Ten could pass through the door.

Once they were all back in the transport ship Ten sat back as the Captain and Lieutenant laid in a course for DS9. He was still struck by this meeting. Yes, he heard some rumors of commander Page's exploits. But the main thing that bothered him was of his current company, his person was less colorful than a Vulcan and an Android.


	3. Chapter 3

DS9 had many ships departing when they arrived. The gratitude festival had just passed, and the promenade vendors were busy cleaning up decorations, and putting out their goods for sale. Ten and Lal were waiting outside Quarks, as Vai collected a debt owed to her. It wasn't necessary, but they needed to kill time until Dr. Amber arrived.

Finally a little after 0900 the doctor arrived. Again Ten and Lal stood off to the side as their Captain met with this doctor.

"I never heard of this Dr. Amber." Ten mused, as he watched their discussion.

"She's a El-Aurian."

Ten's brows raised in astonishment. He'd never seen an El-Aurian. Though he did feel the presence of a few back when he was on the Borg ship.

From around the corner a petite Trill woman came up to the nurses station. Ten took in a hollow breath when she turned and looked his way.

"Ten. It's nice to see you."

"Dr. Dax."

"How have you been? Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thank you doctor."

Lal, still standing off to the side observed a clear discomfort with Ten's body language. She had observed this exchange to be abbreviated pleasantries, and inwardly smirked thinking it odd that humanoids put so much effort into them. Though, to his credit, Ten never forced her into the conversation, as per protocol with situations like these.

After a few more forced pleasantries the conversation was over, and Dax was off to her appointments. Ten hid it well, but there was a clear sign of his muscles relaxing. Lal couldn't resist inquiring the back story on this, so as soon as Dax left the room she whispered, "not someone you wanted to see?"

Thankfully Vai completed her meeting with Dr. Amber, and walked in before he could give an answer.

"Well… we have a doctor. Now let's get our engineer's."

"What's our heading?" Lal asked as she came to Vai's side.

"Heading 879 mark 4"."

Lal's head bounced at the heading, "in the middle of nowhere past the wormhole?"

"Yes, we're heading to a rave."


	4. Chapter 4

Hours later, dressed in club attire, to conceal their status. Vai lead her two reluctant officers through a narrow passageway, leading up to a supposed secret entrance to the biggest secret of the Gamma quadrant. Located on a still commissioned, though highly suspect freight ship, The Neutral Zone rave ship was a well kept secret within the Gamma quadrant. It always kept moving, and even would swap among other freight ships to keep its location secret. It has managed to have concerts throughout the four quadrants this way.

"Are you certain this is the correct place Captain?" Lal questioned, as she caught her bearings with pipes from the wall.

"I am…. Ah. Very certain, she said as she reached for a hidden door lever."

A blast of humid air enveloped them, and the hum of loud techno music assaulted their ears. Bright lights shot from the ceiling, and waves of humanoid species rhythmically bounced to the beat.

"See, told ya!" Vai yelled to her two officers. As she took them by the shoulders and walked them into the space.

Lal was currently living her nightmare, and Ten wasn't too fond of the loud music.

"My first order as your Captain is to have fun! I'll be looking for my engineer's."

With that she waved them off and ran toward the edge of the balcony and signaled to the crowd below for a dive. A few seconds later she was surfing atop the sea of dancers.

"V'tosh ka'tur." Lal sighed as she watched her Captain ride the crowd till she was deposited centrally in the orgy of dancers. Looking over to Ten she spotted signs of discomfort. "Not a fan of crowds?"

"The last time I was in a crowd was when I was enslaved on a Borg ship."

Lal cursed her father's programming, she figured she would try the human way of getting to know people, but maybe she should do some reading before she had any more conversations with Commander Ten. Feeling the time pass as they still stood in awkward silence, she forced herself to appreciate the music. Figuring the Captain may see them still standing there, Lal looked for some safe activity for the two of them. Spotting a bar, which looked depressingly vacant, her mood improved. "Wanna get a drink?"

"Yes." He replied with some urgency, as he lead the way.

Among the sweaty gyrating dancers Vai weaved from one dance partner to the other till she found her target. Goggled and fully committed to the music, she found Lieutenant Ere Emini, and close in toe her twin brother Lieutenant Yoci Trepil, whom was currently making out with a Betazoid male. Not wanting to interrupt them, she hung back and joined a group of Bajoran's free styling traditional and modern dances. The best she could come up with were ancient robot dances from her mother's people.

Eventually the DJ cut out, and the next one was taking over. Emini, the older of the twins tapped her brother on the shoulder, and motioned to join her at the bar. Her brother, for the first time in the last hour, finally detached from his partner, and followed his sister through the crowd. Vai quickly caught up to them.

"Excuse me, Ere Emini… Yoci Trepil?"

The twins stopped dead in their tracks, and looked back cautiously to Vai.

Thinking of the best way to make them feel as though they were not in trouble she decided to abbreviate her greeting. "Hello I'm Captain Page of the USS Argo, I'd like to have you as my engineer's." The twins nose and brow ridges from their joined Bajoran Cardassian lineage crinkled in disbelief at this sudden request.

After about twenty minutes of chatting with the twins Vai had gone over the mission, and shown a few schematics of the USS Argo. Ere was enthralled, and couldn't wait to board, and Yoci was quickly scanning the more in-depth data as if he were to jump in the engine room that second.

"I take it you're both interested."

"When do we launch?" They asked in unison.

"Eight days."

"We're down." Yoci chimed in. "We can launch from here right now."

"Now I just need to find my Science and First Officer." Vai said leaning back in her chair scanning over the crowd. "Ah.. looks like they had the same idea as us." She said pointing to them across the room at the other bar front.

"Oh man. That's Gimbles bar." Ere said, with pert smile.

"What's Gimble serving?"

"All his stuff is laced with hallucinogenic compounds... I learned that the hard way a few years ago." Yoci said shaking his head.

"We should go tell them. This could-"

Vai quickly grasped Ere's shoulder, "It's fine. They needed to loosen up anyway."

They continued to talk for some time at their table as the drinks kept coming. Eventually when Vai looked back for her other officers she found their seats vacant. "Oh… looks like I might need help finding my officers." She said turning back to the twins.

We'll take one side and you the other, Yoci said standing, pulling his sister's chair out for her.

Vai nodded. She couldn't help but feel nervous about what she would find.

It didn't take long to find them. Apparently some tech trippers spotted them at Gimbles, and since both of them had neck ports, and were firmly high on drinks it was an easy sale. Now they were encircled by other trippers, half naked from their heightened temperatures, more grinding than dancing to the intense wub wub music playing, and Tens neck was lined with hickeys.

With a considerable amount of convincing, Vai was able to get them out of the circle and back to the back entrance. Yoci and Ere lead the way, while Vai tried her best to keep her officers vertical. Eventually she ordered Ten to carry Lal.

"She's really heavy though Captain." Ten slurred.

"That's not very nice! I'm a laaaaaaduuuahhhy." Lal's voice was echoed toward the end of this, and she went into a safe mode, shutting herself down."

"You think you could run a diagnostic on Lal back on my ship?"

"Are the Pah Wraiths evil?" Ere countered Vai's request.

Vai raised a brow at this and smiled. She was pleased with her engineer choice.


	5. Chapter 5

Ten roused from a deep sleep. The bright lights were seeping through the frosted temporary partition. Raising his arms up to rub his sore eyes he was stunned by the weird suit he wore. It was skin tight, and had plating all the way up to his shoulders. Slowly he sat up, and continued to examine the suit he wore. He had a strange wrist piece that had his vitals reading out. As he flicked a few keys, Dr. Amber appeared from around the partition.

"Ah. Commander Ten. Glad you are awake." She made a quick motion with her hand toward the wall, and the partition slowly lowered from the ceiling, and disappeared into the ground.

Ten shielded his eyes from the bright lights from the medical bay. "What happened?"

"Seems your drink was spiked with a serious hallucinogen."

Brief flashes from the rave came to him, and most of them did not make sense. As he looked over to her he noticed she wore a similar suit under her white coat, only her's had blue shoulder pieces and collar. Thinking back to his readings, he scanned over special personnel uniform that was required for the Argo. "Have we entered the wormhole to Andromeda yet?"

"Two hours till launch Commander." Chimed in Lal, from one of the back councils. "All is ready Doctor." She said waving to the panel.

"Good. Thank you. Oh, Commander. You are free to go. The mild headache should subside in the next half hour."

"Want me to give you a quick tour?" Lal asked, as she came up to Ten.

Her suit had the green shoulder and neck accents, though on the shoulders there were two gold and one black stripe, representing her Lieutenant Command position.

He gave her a quick nod, and followed her out of medical Bay. After three decks, and passing through engineering, where the twins were hard at work wrapping up any last demos with starbase engineers, they reached the senior staff level suites.

"Your's is across from mine." She pointed with her thumb, "seeing as these suits required triple the power output for charging, they placed us together."

She escorted him through his door and he followed. Throughout this tour he had the hardest time trying to focus on what she was saying. He had already memorized the schematics of the ship before he had met Lal. But his loss of memory and days that had passed troubled him so much that he had to say something. "Excuse me Lieutenant Commander-"

"Lal. Just call me Lal."

He bit at his lower lip with this. "Lal, I am uncertain. I. I believe I may owe you an apology."

She smiled at this, and reached up to his collar, and gently undid his button. "No, I believe I should be the one to apologize."

Her touch caused more memories to flash, and he began to blush from what he saw. Walking over to to the sink he looked his neck over in the mirror. Standing out quite a bit from his usual spots were bright red, and some purple hickeys, pulling his collar away more, he found them down to his collar bone.

"Sorry. I had my bearings till we were offered a 'neural drag,' which, honestly I do not think that would be the best name for it. More like 'pheromone jolt. Granted I do not think their gear was calibrated for my neural net."

He chuckled at her casual attitude about the situation, as he buttoned his collar back up, and took in a deep breath of relief that all the hickeys were concealed by the suit. "From what I can remember I think I was at equal fault."

"Hey to your credit you went toe-to-toe with an android on hallucinogens and neural hits, and you're not dead. So what do you say," she offered her hand to shake, "all is forgiven?"

He dipped his head, and shook her offered hand.

She clasped her other hand over his, and held it still, "promise there will be another occasion to drink or participate in illicit drugs?"

"I umm… Drink yes. But the drugs maybe no."

"I'll take a maybe. Well Commander, let's head to our posts at the bridge."

Meanwhile Captain Page sat in deep thought at her desk in her ready room. She had just gone through her final briefing with starfleet. Her normally high arched brows were scrunched with deep contemplation over her briefing on the actual reasoning for Commander Ten's assignment. Almost on cue, as she reopened the Admiral's orders, her door chimed.

"Enter."

"Captain, I am ready to report to duty." Ten said standing about face.

"Commander, I have just gone over your mission assignment." She said with a hint of question.

"I am the best equipped for the mission, and the only officer willing to do it."

She opened her mouth to speak on this, but held back. Then collecting herself, "as long as you understand that I do not agree with this method, and that I wish there was some other way."

"Admiral Muchara said you would feel this way about the arrangements."

Vai exhaled sharp at this, and clenched her hand till her knuckle popped. "Did she now."

He nodded.

She looked down at the mission briefing, and closed her eyes. She didn't like that Ten would be the delivery method for the 3-5 virus. Taking in a deep breath she knew she had to follow orders. Quickly thinking it over she resolved that she would figure out a way to make sure he was not on a one way trip. "Well Commander, shall we depart?"

He dipped his head and turned to follow.

"Prepare to launch from dock." Vai said as she entered the bridge.


	6. Chapter 6

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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""All crew suits are online and prepped for the jump." Lal said looking over crew manifest list./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Commander.. Engage." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Ten, being the only member of starfleet from a functioning transwarp vessel had the helm. He was plugged into the ship, and used his Borg programming in conjunction with his helm skills. "Engaging transwarp."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As the USS Argo's transwarp engine charged up a loud humm built up, and could be felt through their bones. Their specialized suits protected them from the radiation concurrent with this mode of transportation, and the injection administered at the onset of the jump helped with any physical damage from the rough ride. With a sudden flash the ship jumped from their place in the Gamma Quadrant, through the wormhole, and onto the other side. Tens announcement of him disengaging the engines was missed by the loud rumble of the ship, and ringing in their ears. Though once they came to a full stop all were silent. Up on the view screen all eyes were fixed on this new space. All their eyes instinctively scanned for familiar stars and formations. Vai was the first to undo her chair bracing. As she stood her holo helmet slowly lowered into the collar of her suit. Coming up from behind Ten she rested her hand on the back his chair, still with her eyes fixed on the view screen. "Welcome to the Andromeda Galaxy." She finally said looking back to her still mystified bridge crew. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;" /p 


	7. Chapter 7

Vai sat at the desk in her ready room with her fingers intertwined in deep contemplation. They were now in the Andromeda Galaxy for almost a day, according to earth time almost a day and a half. She, unlike the rest of the senior staff, decided to forego sleep, in order to prep for the first meeting. This meeting would be going over the mission, which she was not concerned about. It was the order from the admiral that she had to deliver. She closed her eyes hard at the thought of it. She was only debriefed just moments before launch, and she nearly walked out on the mission. But, she had to place the need of the many over the needs of the few. She just hoped she wasn't facing a mutiny.

Standing she unconsciously pulled at the nonexistent top portion of her old uniform. She was still getting used to the new suit. When she first put it on she wondered why Starfleet went with this design. Sure, they needed to compensate for the ship, but it did not identify as a Starfleet uniform. Gripping her hand to a fist she now knew why. She shook off her emotions, and grabbed her padd from her desk. "It's now or never," she said aloud as she walked out the door.

The briefing room was silent. Most of the senior officers were finding it hard to not look to Ten to see if he showed any fear over what his part was in their mission.

Vai cleared her throat, and brought the group's attention back to the end of the table. "Now there is one more aspect to this mission that, only a few hours before launch, was disclosed to me. I will play the message." She took in a deep breath, and queued the message from Admiral Muchara.

In the center of the conference table, a scaled down hologram of the Admiral projected up for all to see.

"Greeting to my senior officers of the USS Argo. The United Federation of Planets applauds your commitment to the cause, and we are grateful that we have such a capable team leading us to salvation from the Borg threat." She took in a weighted breath, and though it was a prerecorded message, she looked around the space as if to connect to the crew. "Now, we realize what we ask of you already is a great deal. But unfortunately I have to add new parameters to your mission." Flicking her hand down, each officer's screen lit up in front of them with a new mission debriefing. Lal, being able to read it over in a glance, nearly jumped from her seat. Fortunately Vai quickly clasped her shoulder to keep her calm.

"Just days before your launch we uncovered intel that the militant Borg had formed a new alliance with an unknown alien race in the Andromeda Galaxy. Now the implications alone of militant Borg making alliances is unheard of. From what our intelligence indicates this is the case, and who they have aligned themselves with is a far greater threat that we have ever faced in the history of the Federation." Her voice had a slight shudder with these last words. "Now I know that just from the nature of this original mission statement you may have sensed something off, also the fact that your support officers being re-selected at the last minute may be another red flag. To that I am going to be introducing my replacement." The main door opened and a tall humanoid male walked in. He looked to be mostly human, but there were a few characteristics that clearly were not. Most of the crew were too focused on this man to notice the Admirals projection cancelled out.

"Greeting crew of the Argo." The mystery man said breaking the silence in the room. He approached the main wall display at the front of the room, and placed his palm on it. A blue light shined around his hand and then a new configuration began to display on the display, as well as the rest of their screens, and even on their suits. Anything that identified as Starfleet was wiped away. "My name is Agent Cross, I will be replacing Admiral Muchara in this mission."

All in the room had wide eyes at this announcement.

"Now, to cut to the chase on this, I am letting you all know that this mission, for all intents and purposes, never occurred. You will maintain your current ranking, only you will not be connected to Starfleet until our return to the Milky Way Galaxy. From here until you depart from foreign space, you are now all Section 31 agents."

"You can't be serious, Section 31? That was just an old urban legend that cadets told back at the academy." Emine chimed in.

"Yes, I am aware of the stories, and that we have not had the greatest track record with the Federation. But we have always been there to help."

Vai, whom was troubled by the fact that she knew this Agent Cross. Well rather, he was Lieutenant Nathaniel Cross, Nate, as she would call him back on the Cortez. Seeing him now, after he was supposedly killed during the Dominion War was a shock enough. But hearing this she couldn't help but raise her brow, thinking on how Section 31 helped back with the war with the Dominion. Now this was just a repeat of the same tactic. "With this arrangement, would you say that Starfleet, or rather the Federation condones this joint venture with Section 31?"

Cross gave her a slight side smile on this, which was completely unrelated to his answer, and a hum of his voice sounded in Vai's head. He quickly addressed the rest of the crew with her answer. "For the time being this is a covert mission that is only known by a select few in Starfleet, and even less with the Federation. With those few, yes. We shall consider this a joint venture."

"So what does this mean for our commissions? When we return how do we explain our absence? Trepil asked, as he kept glancing back to his debrief files.

"Very good question." Cross said flicking at his padd, and transferring the necessary files over to the crew. "You all have set alibis ready for you, and high recommendations procured for your immediate promotions."

Trepil, pursed his lips and nodded at this. His sister gave him a disapproving look. But he shrugged her off.

"Let it also be known that if any of you are not willing to participate in this mission we are more than willing to send you back, and it will not reflect on your record."

The room was silent with this. They all were fixed on their new mission statements, and were mystified by their new appointment as agents for Section 31.

Vai, being the captain felt she needed to be the first to act. She scrolled to the end of her documents, and pressed her palm to her screen. A blue light flashed through the cording in her suit, and her Starfleet insignia on her suit shifted to the silhouette of the Argo ship.

Slowly the rest of the crew did the same.

"Wonderful. We will reconvene in four hours. Till then I want you all to read over the mission statements, and your alibis. Dismissed."

All left the room, somewhat disoriented in their gaits, and definitely wary to speak in the presence of Cross. Only Leeda looked back to Cross briefly, just to confirm what she had seen was true. Once the door closed behind them Cross turned to look at the still sitting Vai.

"It's nice to see you again Vai."

She looked up at him with anger, which he could feel in his mind.

He immediately reacted to this with a scrunch of his brow.

"Seem's that our bond is still there. Despite the fact that you have been dead for eleven years."

He closed his eyes, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Believe me, I didn't plan to have it this way."

"I was there for your funeral Nate. With your parents?..." She got up and braced herself against the table. "Were they even your parents? Is your name even Nathaniel Cross, how old are you, are you even human?!"

"Biologically no, I was adopted. You know this. I'm 60. And I'm 20% human."

She cocked her head at this. She knew that he had a mix of species, but him knowing the exact percentage was new. "How long have you been an agent?"

"The entire time."

She pursed he lips and sat back down in frustration.

"Is this going to be a problem working together like this?" Cross said approaching the table.

Pinching her lower lip in contemplation she looked forward in deep thought. "Do you realize how hard I worked to get over your death? I Put myself one hundred percent into my work. And now, you show up, take away my Starfleet identity, something that filled the void from your loss, and you're asking me if this is going to be a problem?!"

Cross bit his lip at this, and shook his head. "Oh, I don't think it was only Starfleet that was filling the void."

"So, I see you have been keeping tabs on me Agent Cross. Did you happen to see that it took me five years to even consider anyone else beside you."

He immediately regretted what he said.

"Yeah. You know it too. So fuck you Nate! You can't use that against me."

They both were silent for a few minutes. Letting themselves collect their thoughts. Vai was the first to speak. "I may not agree with this shift from being Starfleet, to a Section 31 based mission. And I will regret that I brought this crew into this without their knowing for the rest of my life. But I understand that this needs to be done, and there is no better crew to do it. So I will look past us, and move forward with this mission."

"Thank you." Was all he could get out, feeling the current of her emotions through their bond.

With that she left the room, and tried her best to be not seen on her way back to her quarters. Darting into her room she quickly lit some candles and sat on the ground. She looked forward at her shrine. Which true to her beliefs and species, was a mishmash of traditional Vulcan philosophy, pictures of friends and family, and small trinkets from the past. Her eyes were fixed on a framed image of her and Nate. She was in his embrace holding up her hand showing a engagement ring, with the biggest smile on her face. Two rings tied together sat next to the frame in a clear case. She slumped her head at this, and took in a deep breath. Cancelling out her emotions she eased herself into a deep meditation.


	8. Chapter 8

Ledaa Tohur, just finished her morning exercise and was on her way to see the Captain. She was a creature of habit. Being one of few Orion females to secure a placement in security in Starfleet was unheard of. Not to mention she was now at command level. She smoothed out her thick black hair and quickly braided it, securing it with a tie to bundle it in.

She, unlike the rest of the crew was less frazzled by the change of command in the mission. She was a competitive person, and looked forward to the challenge. She had to have this mentality from the start of her education. The notion that Orion females would always get their way due to their nature was the consistent taunt. But she turned that into a challenge. She never once used her species skills, and worked hard just like everyone else. She even went so far as had doctors prove she wasn't using her pheromones for several tactical exams.

Turning the last corner before the turbolift she came up to the Captain's quarters. Without hesitation she pressed her palm to the door lock and entered without announcing herself.

"Ledaa, figured that be you." Vai said peaking around the door from the bathroom. "Already finished with your morning two mile run?"

"Three miles, I hope to get back to my five. This damn patch of space is hell on my body. The doctor says we may encounter this with each different sector."

"I think you will survive just fine out here Ledaa." Vai said with a chuckle, as she toweled her hair dry, and entered the main room.

Ledaa was busy looking at the picture of Vai and Nate in the shrine. "How are you doing Vai?"

"Oh you know me. I may fall, but I always land on my feet."

Ledaa smiled, and looked over to her friend. "I think you will survive just fine out here as well."

Hours later the senior staff were assembled in the debriefing room. Some were still adjusting to their new status, but essentially ready to get to work. Cross brought up the full map of the Andromeda Galaxy.

"What you are looking at here is a significantly more complete map of the Andromeda Galaxy. Section 31 has four years of probe data accumulated here." The map then shifted to their current location. "In five hours we will be arriving at Hellios Prime. It is a class K planet that has been habituated by hundreds of unclassified species. It's one of 18 major hubs we will be investigating. Trepil, Ten, Lal, Tohur, Captain Page, and myself will be assigned on the away team. We will be assuming our assigned role of merchant traders accumulating/trading good between drops. Trepil and Tohur will be assigned to the propulsion materials. Gather data on common transport and materials. Ten and Lal, you will focus on tech and data. We need Intel on these people. Cover a spread from political, economics, and culture. We need to blend in before this mission goes any further. Captain Page you will be with me. We have updated the universal translators, but we have yet to fully test it. Your background in linguistics and cultural psychology will be helpful. That said if you cannot communicate, this is just an mission strictly of observation."

Cross looked over to Vai for any other orders. Vai, clearly identifying him as not wanting to step on her toes nodded. "I believe the rest of the mission briefing would be best explained by Dr. Amber. Doctor would you please."

"Thank you Captain. Now I am running off limited data from Section 31, as well as some old archives from El-Arian people. Needles to say I can make you look like some of the common species, but I would keep behavior levels limited. I've attached data feeds on your assigned species as well as your appointment times for your procedure. Please keep to your times. For some of you we have quite a few adjustments."

Most of the crew were busy looking over their species assignments.

"Well I believe that is all we have to cover," Vai looked over to Cross for his confirmation. He nodded and closed out the map. "Alright then. Dismissed."

"Yoci, you might as well come with me now dear." Dr. Amber said taking his arm like a old relative would. Trepil traced his fingers over his forehead ridges with wonder, "you might be right doc."

Hours later the away team were exiting their ship. Aside from Cross, all of the crew were looking back in awe at their ship. The Argo was the first space exploration ship designed to land on planets.

"It's going to take a while for me to get used to this." Trepil said taking in the mass of the ship. Unconsciously he ran his palm over where his hair once was, now was replaced with sharp spines. "Ouch!... And maybe this new look as well."

"I think I might like my new look." Ledaa said as she flared out a tall skin ridges similar to some sort of fish or fabled dragon between tight bits of braided hair.

Yoci bit at his inner cheek with this in jealousy.

Essentially all of the crew were assigned species that looked similar to them. That of course was decided by a simple matching game of skin ridges, skin pigment, etc.

Vai traced her finger along her new jaw line. All her skin was bleached white, and her skull and chin elongated. Jewelry adorned her bald head, and her still pointed ears. The most striking feature was her jet black eyes.

Cross, whom was altered mainly in plumage, had white skin with deep defined pores as well, and from his eyebrows up had featherlike hair past the collar of her suit.

The one consistent thing they had were their suits. Their body types were slightly altered for their new species, but at least they still looked like a team, rather than a bunch of strangers at a space transit dock.

"Alright.." Vai paused at her modulated voice. "We'll meet back here in six hours.

With they grouped in their respected teams, and, headed down the main trail leading to the booming metropolis in the distance.

An hour in a half in Lal was plugged into a service box along a dark alleyway. Ten was keeping watch, as he stood guard. He had a feline-like look to him, and was still adjusting to his new tail.

"Lookin good Ten."

He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, with his slanted cat lens covering his natural blue- gray eyes.

"Hey it's better than this weird primitive android form. I haven't looked this weird since I was born."

He flicked his tail at this, "at least you're not itching like crazy. I think one of those trader we passed gave me fleas."

"I really think you should keep the tail, it's easier to read your moods."

"Find anything pertinent to our current mission?"

Lal kept her gaze fixed on Ten, but she had a thousand yard stare as she was quickly scanning the data. "Oh…! Yes. I did. Hold on." She disconnected herself, and opened her com.

"Captain. I got a bit of information for you that is important for your species."

"We have just passed a rural outpost. We are alone now."

"Good. Can you get Cross a leash?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your species is an Eloghin. A species that enslaves lesser species."

"Hummm. I think I can come up with something."

"Good, I didn't see anything that would affect the rest of the teams. I got a map of this planet, Ten and I will be using the tunnel transit to get to more data hubs."

"Very good. Be safe, and try to not drink too much this time. No drugs!"

"You're no fun." Lal said as she closed out her com.

Ten looked over to her with a quizzical brow.

"Oh we're totally going to have a drink."

"No we are not." Ten added following her close by her side.

"We have to. It's our tradition."

"Since when?"

"You agreed to have another drink with me sometime."

"We're on duty."

"We have to blend in."

Giving her than himself a once over. "We're barely blending right now."

"Fine, then we will just have to get a hold of some drugs." She said picking up her little android shuffle.

"Lal!"

Across town, moments before they were about to enter a major trading post Vai was leading her tightly leashed slave Cross.

"You are enjoying this too much."

"Quiet slave!" She hissed, and tugged at his line.

He took in a deep breath and bit his lip. Vai smiled, and continued on her path, nodding at the few she passed by.

The planet was incredibly diverse, and well planned out. They had settled their ship in a large open shipyard, located next to a major repair port. Then there was a lush rainforest designed to acclimate species to terrestrial environments. Then the rest of the planet was split into several different kinds of trading posts. Currently Vai and Cross were in the think of an artisan based market. With leash over her shoulder, and a slightly agitated Cross in toe, she looked over all the different items the merchants had out for sale.

Their translator was working for the most part. But from the few times Vai spoke up to inquire about an item the merchant would give her an odd look. They kept on going through the town, and entered a part of town that was partially underground. Passing through an archway lined with crystal hanging beads the atmosphere changed quite a bit. Things were quite a bit more modern here. There was an access tube for the underground transit, and quite a few Eloghin's like herself, some with up to four slaves following them.

"I've found my people." She whispered back to Cross.

"Goody." He said through a grimace. As he was given a full once over by a passing Eloghin male.

Vai, pulled him in close to her, and stroked her long extended fingers through his hair, denoting her ownership over her slave as she stared the other Eloghin down. The Eloghin male hissed and smiled simultaneously, and went on with his shopping.

"Seventeen more planets we have to assume these roles for." Cross Sighed, as he tugged at his tight collar.

"I can't wait." She said with excitement, as she tugged him toward the sea of jeweler merchants.

It started to make sense why the artisans picked this dark space for their shops. They lined their booths with lights that emphasized the brilliance of their gems. Vai, given a list from Lal, traded and purchased the necessary items. When they reached the end of the jewelry market there was a small pawn shop that looked to be very busy. They managed to squeeze past the large crowd of patrons and peer into the cases. Most of the items were old and looked to have some religious significance. But one item stood out. Vai tugged on Cross's line, and pointed to a Borg brow piece.

Tapping on the counter Vai got the merchants attention, and did a quick exchange.

"Where can I find more?"

"Why you ask?"

"I want one for each of my slaves I left back on my ship."

The grouchy shop man scratched at his thick neck beard, and rolled his lower jaw in thought. "There was a colony of Jumpers here a few years back. Local authorities eradicated them a little over two years ago. Most of the items were melted down, or reclaimed by other merchants. This is my last piece."

"Awe. Well… I guess I can give it to my favorite back on the ship."

"This one isn't your favorite?"

She looked back at Cross, and shook her head. Quickly thinking of the best way to state Cross was merely a mule for her. Seeing as this shop keep looked an awful like some sort of combination of animals from a farm, she chose her words wisely. "He's just the muscle. I have much more shopping to do." She then made an exchange and carried on with her shopping. Once they were back to the top level Cross looked over to her. He could tell she had turned off her translator some time ago. He marveled at how she was able to pick up languages so quick. He smiled to himself as she watched her ear slightly twitch at her taking in the multiple different dialects. Knowing her for as long as he did, he recognized this little tick of her, and he loved it. Very much how he still loved her. Taking a moment to hang back and close his eyes as she spoke with yet another merchant he thought about that horrible day eleven years ago.

He was shipped off the Cortez long before the attack. According to Starfleet records that was not the case. He planned on meeting Vai before he began his new post at Starfleet intelligence, but he was placed into deep cover, and not permitted to connect to anyone from his past. He ended up jumping from ship to ship, till he was appointed a position on his current project. He kept tabs on Vai, he wasn't proud of it, but it couldn't be helped. He still loved her, and he wanted to be with her. Muchara was angry when she found out he was the lead. She knew what his loss did to Vai, and she put in several requests for other agents. But fortunately for him he was the best agent for the job.

"Nate… Nate. You still with me?"

He shook himself out of his head, and looked to Vai.

"I need you to carry this." She said pointing to a large bag of fabric. "It will be good for trade."

He went forward, and grabbed the bag. And let out a breath from the serious weight of the items.

"Spun platinum infused thread. Very rare."

He gave her a quick glare of disapproval, and hoisted the heavy bag over his shoulder.

"Come on theres a little Vulcan and Klingon strength in there somewhere."

"Only accounting for 47% master." He grunted, as he followed her to more shopping.


	9. Chapter 9

Hours later they all met back at the ship. Not wanting to be suspicious, and also still enjoying her character, she kept Cross leashed. The team tried their best not being caught by Cross with their stares.

"Get some good intel?" Vai inquired as she came up to Lal.

"Yes. Fascinating culture we have here Captain."

Vai scrunched her nose at Lal's breath.

"Sorry. This planet is lacking the atypical 'cyber lounges,' or 'cafe.'"

"So data dens and intel bars?" Vai conjectured.

"Precisely."

Looking over to Ten she noticed a slight haze to his eyes. But his neck implant had a orange light to it indicating his data bank was near full. "I want that data asap."

Most of the team required only a half hour to an hour of sterilization. Ten however, required two hours. He was right, he did get fleas, or rather something called Dzama bugs. Which were a combination of lice, ticks, and fleas.

Finally exiting medical, he unconsciously peered over his shoulder as he passed through the doorway. He had grown used to his tail from his character, and after a few times of getting it stuck in doors, developed this routine.

Walking down the corridor he rubbed his brow. Lal was speaking the truth about the data bars. Comparably to libraries and authority hubs, the bars were far more lucrative. Though he wished the drinks weren't so stiff. Placing his palm to the panel Ten opened the lab door. Inside Lal was busy refitting her humanoid hand back on, whilst being plugged into the main computer.

"Oh good. I need your help. It's hard to do this one handed." She said this with a bounce of her brows, and displaying the fact that her other hand wasn't attached.

Ten rolled his eyes, and gave her a slight smile. He was warming up to her humor finally.

After a few delicate maneuvers, and a rather brutish click and lock at the end her hand was reattached.

"Thank you." She fanned her fingers and rolled her wrist. "So," she sat down and went over her panel. The screen blew up with data streaming at near light speed.

Ten struggled greatly with this, and Lal could tell.

"Here," she offered him a port plug. "I don't mind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I've even compensated for the hive tech."

Ten took a seat next to her, and plugged in. Instantly they were in another space. It was dark, and green illuminated data streams lined the long corridors and arched doorways, and a low hum was building up from the floor.

"This was not in my original programming." Lal said from behind Ten, startling him and making him jump.

"Sorry. Here." She jerked her head and the space suddenly changed to a office. Everything was white in the room. The only source of color came from the view outside the only window. Ten walked over to the window and peered out. Outside was a forest with a small footpath leading to a tall tree.

"I combined my work space with a program my father had from his early days on the enterprise." Lal walked over to her desk and started opening up her files. Then hesitated for a moment when she found it difficult to access Ten's. Figuring he was probably embarrassed about their initial connection, Lal got up and walked over to Ten.

"It was in this program my father first met Admiral Riker." Pointing to the tree. "It's here where the Pinocchio jokes started."

Ten marveled at this, and looked deeper into the space as if the scene would reveal itself.

"We can try this another way if you like?"

"No, it's fine. This is the best mode for the mission."

She weakly smiled at this. It was strange to see a humanoid actively reject emotions. "We'll take it slow then okay?"

He nodded, and followed her to the desk.

"Is that where your rest archway takes you?"

Ten tensed up at this, but continued to look through data. "Yes."

Lal, bit at her lower lip. "Would you like for it to be somewhere else?"

He cocked his head at this, "You would have to go into my core programming."

"I could rewrite some things, or maybe set up a bypass."

Ten was extremely conflicted with this. What she was offering was both extremely intimate, but would also help him a great deal.

"Doesn't have to be right away. Just let me know." Lal said patting him on the shoulder. "Now, lets filter these cultures out. We have to make sure we don't stick out like a sore thumb at the next outpost."

He smiled at this, he knew she understood his feeling about this, and unlike people from the past, she wasn't going to force him. This comforted him also, yes she was probably a bad influence on him with her rowdy nature, but she understood him. For the first time in years of working with others he felt comfortable.


	10. Chapter 10

Sitting around the table the senior officers were in the middle of their first away team report. The twins were debriefing the crew on the new configuration to their ship signal.

"Seeing as warp based transport is one of the four modes in this galaxy, we do not need to expend our cloak to our trail. We will however need to keep a constant cloak active on the ship, as well as on all signals and modes of communication with outposts." Ere flicked through some charts her brother passed onto her. Then brought up a hologram of a modified probe. "Probes need to be used only when absolutely necessary. Not many merchant traders out here using probes. Though Yoci and I have altered the bandwidth to the return signal on a frequency only this ship can read." She played a sample playback for all to hear. "It's on a low resonance. It will just read as static."

All nodded in the room at this. Yoci then took over. "To add to what my sister has said, from my explorations from the local shipyards there are at least four modes of transport. Warp, solar, mechanical, and biological. The biological is what seems to be one of the most established towards the center of this galaxy."

"Now your saying they have manned bio ships?"

"Yes. Though the information is limited. Seems to be an ancient humanoid race that breeds the ships somewhere in the Epsilon quadrant."

All raised their brows at this. They all read reports on Tinman. And the notion of another bioship brought out the explorer in them all.

"Next on our docket." Cross cut in. "From Lal and Ten's mass of data brought in we have uncovered several planets with reports of 'jumpers.' Our next target will be a Menchara class planet 33 hours from our present position. Conveniently it is also a major mining planet for ulture ore. We will enter the main camp set up a trade contract and investigate whether or not there has been any Borg activity on planet. Till then we all had best look into our culture background for our characters. We will be working close to these people. So we need to be seamless."

All in the room nodded, and Cross looked over to Vai for any other orders.

"That will be all for now, thank you."

The room cleared and all went off to their quarters or to their work shifts. Ten was due on the bridge. Relieving the hologram helmsmen, he assumed his post. Giving a quick scan over the space he took in the fact that aside from Leeda and Cross, he was the only living person on the bridge. This mission was constantly changing. He signed onto this with open eyes. But with every passing day he felt as though he were going blind.

…

The teams had split up on the away mission. Ten and Cross were hiking along the mountain pass to a faint Borg signature. They were 13 clicks away, and the path was finally evening out.

"Ah. Finally even ground." Cross sighed.

Ten nodded, and continued to split his attention with the trail and his scanner.

"I read your record. You've gone through probably more ships than I have in the last year alone."

"I go where I am assigned."

Cross hummed at this, and smiled. A very similar expression he saw his Captain make.

The scanner began to beep regularly once they came close to their target. Both officers exchanged scanners for weapons. As Cross lifted up a low thick vine from the thicket they both took in a hollow breath. There before them were piles of dismantled Borg. There wasn't any order to them, and some looked like they were recently rifled through, most likely by the local wildlife.

"Their tech is slightly different than the standard Borg we have come across." Ten said after looking through some of the piled up components. "Their plugins are even different. I'm not able to plug in."

Cross walked over to him, and knelt down. Unzipping his left sleeve he revealed two small ports in his wrist. Effortlessly he plugged an skull piece in, and a holo screen emitted from his temple. Ten recoiled from this astonishing act. "One of the main reasons I was chosen for this mission was because of my species. I am a Borg hybrid."

Ten looked wide eyed at him in wonder. What Cross was saying was he was one of the rare forms of Borg.

"When I was just starting at the academy I was approached by Section 31. They had been looking into Borg technology since before Kirk. What they found with me was that the ship I was made from was not from the Milky Way Galaxy." He looked up at the sky, and then scanned their surroundings. "Heh. This could even be one of the home worlds my sample genes came from."

Tens eyes were trained on Cross, analyzing his every feature. Cross chuckled at this. "You're not going to find any answers by a visual scan. Here." He passed his scanner over to Ten.

Ten hesitantly held the scanner. It wasn't Starfleet standard issue. But he recognized most of the keys. The other issue he was dealing with was how intimate this scan was going to be.

"Go ahead. I don't mind. You above all people know about these scans."

Ten scrunched his brow at this. One thing that he hated about all the tests from his recovery was the lack of privacy. But his curiosity was overriding that. Bringing the scanner up and over Cross strange reading were all over the place. "Fascinating." Ten unconsciously uttered. He stood, and circled around Cross trying to decipher some of the common species and components he could understand.

"Another part of this mission is to uncover this new form of Borg." Cross, switching to another piece spun it around and looked for any remaining connections. But all he found was decomposed material, and the metal components starting to decay. "One thing that is for sure is that the Borg from here have a biological base. Possibly may be linked to the species that cultivate bio ships."

Ten took the arm piece that Cross offered and scanned it. It had similar readings to Cross, though the amount of decay and debris from the environment was complicating a true comparison.

"Well… Let's pack a few samples, but otherwise leave this place untouched. I doubt anyone back at the camp will acknowledge this site."

Ten nodded, and began filtering through the piles.

Hours later the teams were returning back to their ships. Ten and Cross used the stealth settings on their suits, so they only required a short decontamination. The rest of the crew, who were exhausted from a long day of meet and greet with the ulture minors. Apparently it was a cultural norm with the Ulturans to have a eight course meal with new merchants.

"I regret everything I ate today." Whined Emini as she pulled at her head appliance. She was assigned the same species as her brother, though she decided to be a male like him, seeing as the females of that culture were not allowed to wear clothes.

"It was nice having a brother for a change." Yoci chimed in giving her a bear hug from behind.

"Maybe next time I will be the female."

"Eww no." He quickly released her and crossed his fingers in a x formation as he backed away from her.

Lal walked passed this, and was busy adjusting her settings back to her normal state. Her walk was that of a primitive android, and she needed to quickly remedy that.

"Off to the labs?" Vai inquired as she began to undo her headscarf and jewelry adornments.

"Yes. I need my normal hands back. These things are so bulky."

"Ten should already be at work with some samples they uncovered. Maybe you can give them a leg up with that?"

"Gladly." She said with relief. She had spent the entire day being the plaything for the camps children. So monotonous scanning and the soothing hum of technology was a welcome prospect.

Halfway down the corridor she regained her normal gait. As she entered the room she began to pull at the back connectors for her face appliance.

Ten being plugged into the the main computer, shifted his fixed gaze to her. "Never going to get used to that."

"What? You never see a girls innerface?"

Even without her outer dermal layer he could tell she was making the same cheesy smile she always made with her puns.

He dropped his head with this and disconnected from the computer. The scans of the recent samples still remained up on the screen.

"New stuff?" She inquired, reattaching her normal face appliance.

"Indeed." He said taking her hand and disconnecting it.

They had this process down to a dance almost. Before this mission, Lal had to make several beacon messages for their shipping company. Thus she insisted on Ten learning this process. It was delicate, especially when she was in her full body appliance. But according to Lal, 'they were there,' in the relationship. Another ism Ten learned from her.

"So what are we looking at?" Lal said looking over his shoulder towards the specimens.

"Well…" gripping her hand tight, and quickly twisting it into place. "Seems our Agent Cross just dropped another bomb on the mission."

"Look at you playing with words." Lal gave him a proud smile and quick hug. "Proud of you."

He didn't expect there to be such warmth to her hug, and nearly lost his train of thought. "Um. It's a new breed of Borg."

"New, or perhaps the original species?"

"Unknown."

"Ooooo… But what makes them-." She stopped short when flipping the specimen over revealing the decayed bits. "Oh. That's new." She pulled up the readings. "Were you able to connect to them?"

"No." He said gripping the back of her chair.

"Where did this reading come from then?"

He hesitated for a microsecond. "Section 31 tech."

She smirked at this. "Really need him to work with us openly. We can't be kept in the dark on this."

"I know." He said mostly to himself. Cross informed him on the way back to the ship that the crew didn't need to know about his species.

"I think I can get us in. Wanna see?" She offered him a port plug that was tethered to her input.

He sat on the edge of the counter and plugged in. "Alright. Let's take this-."

Before he could finish his sentence they were blasted into this strange place. The walls were undulating and there were loud thumping and screeching sounds.

"What is this!" Ten yelled, as he braced himself against the corridor wall.

"Let me adjust some things!" Lal crouched down into the fetal position and buried her face into her hands.

The sounds started to fade out, and the walls went to a semi-transparent blur.

Ten had this odd sensation run through him. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. This seemed familiar to him, almost like being back in the collective. He looked over to Lal, who was still in the fetal position. "You okay?"

"All the voices. There's too many languages…. I think I feel sick?"

Knowing full well that she was experiencing the collective without the right programming, he quickly knelt down and gripped her shoulders. "Access my implants! Use the base programming alongside your own."

"That's awfully intimate. I don't know…" Her head slumped forward, and her words slurred with this.

"Dammit Lal! I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW! DO IT!" He immediately felt her presence within him.

"Oh wow. So much better."

"Good."

"Man, that fucking hurt."

"How do you feel now?"

"Much… Wait… I'm talking to you but my mouth is not moving."

"Borg speak through the collective."

"I can read all your thoughts."

"Lal! Just focus on the task at hand."

"Awe. You consider me a close friend." She brought her hand up to his chest and smiled at this. Still speaking through their link mentally.

"Yes. Umm. I think…"

"Oh! So I can share with you back right? Oh this is so cool. Okay, okay. Here."

"Wait Lal. Ehhhah." His legs buckled with the mass of information flooding his mind.

"Oh.. wait. Here."

He now was laying on the ground from the stress, but the stream subsided and now what showed before his eyes was her perspective of their encounter at the rave. It was odd to be looking at himself from her eyes. He was in her body, while he was watching himself dance with her, kiss her, disappear into the back room and have some pretty intense sex, puke on her, dance again, and then get back together with the team. His mind blanked out after he called her heavy.

"So now you know what happened." She said eagerly, scooting over to his side.

He opened his eyes hesitantly, worried he would get hit again.

Looking over to her he could only feel shame. "I am so sorry. I was a complete ass."

She scrunched her lips in thought. "The sex was good though, and he's a pretty good kisser. Oh would it be weird to kiss him now? Yes. That would be bad."

He gave her a peevish look. "Our link incorporates all thoughts and communication."

"Ehhhhahh. Oh. She quickly tried to regain her composure. While holding back urges and images to do naughty things to him.

Ten was trying his best to keep his mind at bay with all this coming his way. So he remained still, and focused on his breathing. The best she could do was convert her processing to binary code. Which had an effect like a cold shower for the two of them.

"Woo. Much better." She took in a deep breath and leaned back on her hands.

Ten hesitantly sat up, trying his best to hide his slight chub from her. Though this fleeting thought didn't escape her. Because he could feel her lift in spirits to his reaction.

"I can see why so many refugees choose to stay in the collective communities. It's pleasant. You can't feel lonely here." She remarked, changing the subject.

He honestly would have preferred to go back to the talk of sex over the collective. "It wasn't for me." Reaching up to the rail along the wall, he pulled himself up to his feet. "Ready to look around?" He said offering her his hand.

She looked him in the eyes with some confusion. She was obviously trying to find meaning behind his feelings on the collective. Feeling it was only fair, considering how much she revealed, he let his guard down. "I just wanted one voice in my head. And that one can't come back. So that's why I broke away from the collective."

"Reti." She whispered though their connection.

He winced in response to this then nodded.

"I'm sorry." She looked him deeply in the eyes with this, and took his offered hand.

"I'm sorry as well." He returned, thinking back on what she showed him.

"Just don't puke on me next time."

"Next time?"

"Come on let's check this place out." She waved over to him to follow her down the hall.

"Please don't tell me you are planning another binder."

"Maybe just a couple of drinks this time instead-."

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks. The corridor ended suddenly to a massive open space that encompassed at least 40 decks. Scanning the walls they found odd archways where Borg were quite literally assimilated into the walls. It was grotesque. Their bodies were contorted, and if they had a face left exposed it had an expression of agony. Ten walked over to the nearest archway. There was a small humanoid, perhaps a child, nearly fully absorbed into the wall.

"It seems that the ship is using them for fuel."

Lal was uncharacteristically quiet. She stepped back and took a moment to scan over the scene. From behind her a platform raised up, and she stepped onto it. Immediately two metal arms clasped around her, and a long rod ran her through her chest from behind. For the first time she cried out through her mouth.

Ten spun around and tried to reach her before the massive arm whipped her up two levels, and deposited her into an open archway.

"Lal! Lal! Say something!"

All he was getting over their connection was sobbing, and a white noise.

"This isn't real. Remember that Lal. IT'S NOT REAL!" He was huffing and puffing with this as he was quickly climbing the ladder. Nearly slipping twice, he was starting to doubt, this did feel awfully real. Gripping the edge of the platform he pulled himself up and ran over to her. She had different coolants pouring out from her wound, and even some blood-like solution intermixing with it. Ripping through the fresh cables and straps he was able to break her free. "Lal. Are you okay? Lal?"

Her eyes were half open, and tears were running down her cheeks.

Alarms were sounding all around them, and the massive metal arm was whipping around madly trying to adjust to their location.

"Lal. You need to get us out of here. Take us back."

She was still unresponsive to this. Another large arm was coming down the floors and was on a direct path for them.

"Lal please."

The arm now in position was opening up and coming right for them. Ten pulled Lal up into his arms, and scooted back to the wall. Holding her tight to his body, he shielded her from the grasps of the claw.

The defining loud clash of the claw opening and closing made Tens ears ring, and his arms strained from holding it back.

"Lal!"

The room went blank, and they were back in the white space of her office. The ringing in his ears turned into a ancient whistled melody. Lal was still in his arms, now barely clinging to life. Ten had been in this space a few times, so he could easily access the right codes to exit. With more than usual effort he was able to free them. On waking into reality he lunged over to catch Lal before she fell. Laying her down onto the ground he found that one of the recovered Borg appliances had lodged its way through her chest cavity.

"Computer Medi- Engineering emergency!"

Ten unconsciously felt for a pulse on her, though she did have a circulatory system, it wasn't as critical for her.

"Ten." She uttered with a tiny echoed tone to her voice.

"Lal, how do you feel?" Ten was busy working on freeing her from the appliance.

"I don't want to die again."

He looked at her stunned, "You're going to be fine. I'm here."

From behind him Yoci and Emini walked in. "What's the- Lal!"

Ten scooted off to the side and started to explain what had occurred. Vai and Cross eventually came in, and even Dr. Amber. To Lal the room was becoming blurry. All of their voices were mixing and fading out. She wept all the while. Most of the sensors in her body were overheating, and she could not move. One consistent thing she felt was someone holding her hand tight. This had a different sensation than the others working on her. It had a desperate grip, and one that was meant for comfort. A loud beeping in her head began, and within a few seconds she shut down.


	11. Chapter 11

Three weeks had passed. By now Lal's incident led to Cross revealing the new form of Borg this galaxy had, as well as his own origin. They had performed a few trades, but otherwise they were kept to busy work. Not a single group that they encountered with could give them any information on jumpers. In fact their last trade agreement was nullified just by them bringing it up.

Ten was often in medical since Lal's accident. All his free time was spent here. Dr. Amber put aside a section for Lal that had equal medical and engineering access. The only thing that they could surmise is that there was a defense program based within the Borg appliances. But they were only allowed to use a quarantined section of the main computer to analyze them. Which was taking three times as long as him immersing into the program.

Ten was however able to tether into Lal. He set her program to keep her in her white space. Though he set her outside to office, laying on a blanket in the shade of the tall tree. Walking over to her he sat down and took her hand. Sometimes he would see her twitching brows relax a little with this. Today however she took in a deep breath, and sighed. The muscles in his chest for the first time in weeks loosened, and he took in an even breath.

"You have a very distinct grip. My internal chronometer reports your distinct grip for 157 minutes and 34 seconds."

"An awfully mechanical statement for the bombastic Lal."

"I'm trying to keep my emotion level low."

Ten, over the last few weeks, was able to uncover the original data stream she passed onto them during their time linked. It was essentially her entire life. Or rather life's. He experienced her death first hand, so he knew what she was going through.

"I didn't completely die this time at least."

He smiled at this.

She squinted her eyes, cancelling out their connection, and exiting back into her space in the medical bay.

Her skin was slightly off color. They had been pumping coolants through her non stop, and her hair was slicked off to the side with several data plugs connected into the main computer.

"You sure you should be up?"

"I plan on continuing in this prone position. Though I can start calibrating my visual and auditory systems without pain."

"How do you feel?"

"Terrified to turn on my emotions."

He gripped her hand tight. "I'm here."

Her composure broke with this and she began to cry.

He knelt down and kissed her on the forehead, and helped wiped away some tears. "I'm here now, and you are safe."

She took in a deep shuddered breath with this, and forced a smile.


	12. Chapter 12

Just a few turns away from the main lab Vai was on her way to seeing Cross. She was pissed about being left in the dark. After the last debriefing she had all the crew leave the room so she could share exactly how pissed she was with him. Now two weeks later, she could no longer avoid him.

"Nate we need to- What the hell!"

Cross was in the middle of dissecting a recent specimens they came across on a local retrofitted asteroid. The creature was a hybrid. And was near death, as they brought it in. Vai, admittedly been busy since they last collected the animal. But last time she saw it, it was in one piece. Now it was splayed out throughout the lab.

"I admit I didn't complete my core med courses with section 31."

"No shit." She mused putting some gloves on to help.

"It seems these Borg have been getting creative with non humanoid species." He held up a small eyepiece connector that was still lodged deep into the occipital lobe.

"I still cannot wrap my head around this bio tech."

They were silent for a few moments. Vai resolved to bunching together the specimen, and leaving it to the automated cleaner bot.

"So what were you going to yell at me for this time?"

She raised her brow out of irritation at this, but then cancelled out her rage with a deep breath.

"Lal woke up."

"Good. I could use the help with this." He pulled another implant, now from the lungs, and put it in a stasis box.

"I don't want you leaving us in the dark anymore." She said this with a clear and directed, mirroring her gaze into his eyes.

"I know."

"Do you, Agent Cross?!"

He pulled himself completely away from the specimen, and approached her. "I do, Captain."

"No more secrets, no more side missions. We are on one task together, fully debriefed. I will not lose any of my crew because of your damn Section 31 protocols."

Cross brow lowered from the impact of what she said, along with this new matured Vai that stood before him. She was indeed a Captain now. He could not help but feel the deep pain of loss again from this.

Scanning her face over, trying to find his Vai, she only looked back for confirmation in his expression.

"Absolutely no secrets then Captain?"

She shook her head in disbelief, "I'm not going to risk another member of my crew."

"I still love you."

What little noise in the lab cut out. She she stared back at him miffed.

Before she could get in a word the corner track blue lights went on.

 _Transwarp engaging in 30 seconds._

Vai tapped her com. As she and Cross exited the Lab and secured themselves into the corridor harness. "Trepil, Emini. What's going on?" Her voice echoed a little from her full helmet on.

"Captain we picked up on a Borg vessel warp signature."

 _Entering transwarp in 15 seconds…_

"Tohur I want you to initiate the cloak the second we exit transwarp."

 _8 seconds…_

"Have it set to cloak Captain."

Vai cringed from her suit injecting the transwarp analgesic solution into her neck. "I'll be on the bridge soon."

 _Engaging trans warp._

The analgesic took some of the edge off, but it still was a bumpy ride. Her and Cross were plastered to the corridor wall, with the safety straps holding them in place. After four long minutes of waiting the blue light faded out.

Slumping forward Cross and Vai caught their bearings. Hunched over Vai held the palms to the back of her neck to make breathing easier.

"Oh I feel sick." Cross said bracing himself on the wall.

"Com'on, let's get to the bridge."

The lift was the only moment where they could revel in not moving.

"It's not supposed to have that strong of an effect on us." Cross said, as he held the safety rail.

"I know." Vai, having a Vulcan physiology could cancel out most of the effects, but still could recognize there was something wrong.

The bridge was chaos. They had full crew and even support holo crew out working madly at the engineering station.

"Report."

"This sector's binary stars are nearing a supernova stage."

"We have delt with those before with far less advanced ships, give me a better cause lieutenant." Vai said to the holo officer.

"Warp and Impulse engines are down too Captain."

Ten and Lal stood off the lift, Lal was in much better shape than before, but Ten was still helping her walk around.

"Lal analyze that binary. I want to know if that's the cause."

Not too long after that Yoci stumbled through the lift. With barf bag in hand. "Something is diluting the transwarp dampener gel cells. I don't.. heeerrrhhp."

Everyone on the bridge, aside from the holo crew grimaced at this.

"Anyone else feel as shitty as me?" Yoci asked as he hunched over the engineering station, nearly falling when he tried to grab what he thought was one of the non holo crews shoulders for support.

"Captain. I believe I found the source."

"Bring it up on the main screen."

The current system they were in came up, with a few points highlighted with wave graphs.

"This solar system is linked with what seems to be EMP weapons. Each planet is tethered to their stars using the magnetic pull. With the supernova their link is disrupted causing these erratic fluctuations in the weapons."

"What are our options? Tohur, do we have the cloak?"

"Yes, cloak is up, and holding strong. Life support and shields are good for now. The backup system seems to have a set of secondary shields independent from the main system."

"What about weapons?"

"Non operable."

Vai nodded at this, and crossed her arms. She walked toward the main view screen. "Lal what are the conditions of these planets?"

"Uninhabited. Two K's, three L's, and one class M. All seem to be stable for now."

"How long?"

"76 hours, 34 minutes and 17 seconds."

"Tohur, do the pods have the same redundancy system our shields and cloak have?"

"Yes." She said with some confusion.

"Alright, we're heading out in teams. Ten Lal you will take on the K's, Trepil Tohur you have the M, Cross and me will take on the L's. We will head in and deactivate these manually." She tapped her communicator, "Emini."

Loud interference came through, with Ere barking orders. "Yes Captain."

"How soon can we get the warp engines back after the weapons have been deactivated?"

"I can get it back in 30 minutes?"

"Make it 10. Because on warp two we will be cutting it close. Alright, Lal send over the necessary tools to the pod bay, were heading out now."


	13. Chapter 13

Yoci and Tohur were the first to arrive onto their target. They landed just off the coast, and were heading up along the beach toward a narrow trail to a compound on the mainland.

"All things considering, I think we got the sweet deal out of this mission." Yoci said playfully kicking up some sand as he walked beside Tohur.

"Speak for yourself, it's so fucking hot here."

"Aside from the 75% humidity, this is delightful weather." He held his arms wide open and basked in the light.

"Well it's disgusting for me, especially with these suits." She furiously unlatched the neck of her suit and peeled it open.

Yoci looked over at this, "damn!" He held up his wrist com and scanned her over. "Your temperature is way up." He placed his opposite bare wrist to her forehead. "You have a fever… Wait." Yoci started to get a little woozy, "Oh man, could this be a delayed effect from the transwarp?"

Leeda grabbed Yoci, before he fell, but was too weak to hold them both up.

They laid in a heap for a few moments, taking in labored breaths.

"I don't think this is a fever." Ledaa said rolling onto her back and opening up her suit more to cool off.

Yoci pulled himself up to sit, and looked her over. There was this slight haze to his vision, and he was having very out of character thoughts.

"I think I've lost control of my pheromones." She clutched at her suit with this, and pulled it more open, nearly revealing her breasts.

"Well stop it then!" Yoci ordered backing away in a crab walk formation.

"No…" She got onto all fours, with her breast mostly exposed. "I don't think I can."

"Eeee, I'm into guys though." Yoci squealed as she caught up to him, and pinned him down.

"Just pretend I'm a man." She said forcing a kiss.

"Muah… You certainly are… strong… like.. ahh." Yoci could not hold back from the force of her pheromones. "Fuck it why not. Let's see what this is all about." He sighed, and gave in.

Across the system Lal and Ten were landing on the first planet on their list. It was smaller by comparison, but due to the terrain they would have to cover a great deal to get to the containment dome.

"So you could survive this environment?"

"I can survive the vacuum of space. This is nothing. Though I don't think my complexion would appreciate this intense sandstorm." She bore down for a moment, as a surge of heavy wind hit.

Ten reached back, and grabbed her arm. Blue Underlit ribbons of sand whipped around their helmets, and disappeared into the clouded sand abyss behind them. "How you holding up?"

"Peachy." She said with a stumble.

"Wish we got the L's?"

"Hell no!"

Several light years away, nearing the end of their time limit, Vai and Cross were pushing their pod to maximum warp. A few warning lights were on. But they were not about to let that stop them. They spoke very little. Even with their climate controlled suits they could feel the cold. Their last target planet was at the end of the solar system, and even with max warp it would take them till the last minute to get back, and that was if all went as planned. So far they were only minutes behind, and with some safety features turned off, they were able to bring their pod to warp 5.

"We're going to have to get the timing right on this one." Cross said looking over some scans.

"Another storm?"

"Mother of them all."

With the limited space in the pod she was essentially on top of him, when she looked at his screen. But with the recent stress on their bodies from the cold she wasn't going to protest. "That doesn't leave us many options for landing."

"There is no option of landing with this planet."

Vai took in a breath, and leaned back into her harness. She pinched her lower lip in thought. Shifting her attention to her com she flicked through a few scans. "In the next fifteen minutes this should be the last device."

"Key word is should."

She blinked hard and took in a deep breath. "We could get jump atmosphere, land in the target zone, reactivate the weapon, and transport back into the pod."

"You make it sound easy."

She grumbled and looked up at the ceiling, "Do you have any other ideas?"

He looked back at his schematics, he thought of bringing the pod down into the eye of the storm, but one of them would have to stay with it with all the interference to keep it safe. "No. We'll have to jump."

"Alright." She quickly inputted some codes, and synced the pod with her com.

Cross sat back into his seat and closed his eyes. "I don't think they intended for these escape pods to do something as dangerous as this."

She sat back as well and flicked her projected helmet on. "Where's your sense of adventure Nate?"

The pod rotated 180 degrees and a yellow light flashed.

 _Entering orbit. Capsule hatch maintenance will imitate in 30 seconds._

"That is terrifying." Cross said pulling his arms close to his side's.

"There's a message you don't want to hear from your escape pod!" Chided Vai over their com.

As soon as the seal was broken the pods countdown transferred over to their coms. It was spotty but still there.

Their bodies floated in the brief space before the atmosphere. Their suits forced their arms right to their sides, and reinforced the rigidity of their dive. The blue light from their suit forcefield refracted the fire of the atmosphere. Once they cleared the atmosphere their violent descent shifted to a brief moment of clarity. Cross was slightly behind Vai, and he gasped at the mass of the hurricane walls closing in on them. Vai released her parachute, and began fighting the hurricane.

"Vai! We'll need to release later."

"Copy that." She struggled with her suit controls.

Cross seeing her gradually get pulled closer to the wall released his arms from his sides.

"My shoot won't release!"

Cross weighed the options. "Okay, on the count of three I want you to cut the line with your com."

"Okay."

"One…. Two….. THREEaaahh!"

Cross barreled into her from above hitting hard with his right arm. But they were clear of the wall. Despite the pain. He held her around the waist.

"That was sketchy."

"Pretty sure I broke a bone."

She grimaced at this, and quickly went to work on strapping them together. With a few tethered lines from her cut parachute, she fashioned a belt to connect them. She gently released his arm from around her. "You work on the landing, I'll make sure your suit compensates for your arm."

He nodded and tugged at the line. Their bodies whipped back, and surged forward with the release. Snow and ice chunks whipped up around them, and made their helmets fog.

"Oww.."

"Sorry. I'll have to adjust the settings."

His suit tightened all over, making his legs straightened out. "Anything but that setting please."

"Grrr… I'm trying." Her helmet kept fogging up from the extreme cold, and ice chunks were now collecting along the nook of her raised neck piece.

" _Automated Bio Medical Program Activated. Agent Nathan A. Cross I have detected trauma to your right ulna. Initiating inner suit bracing and stimulating endorphins. Please seek immediate medical attention."_

"Wish I could."

"Did it work?"

A numbing wave cascaded down his arm, making it go somewhat limp. "Oh yeah… It's working."

She smiled at this inwardly, she remembered this reaction because it was the same whenever they would drink, or the few times they tried drugs. Pulling up the map on her com she tried to get their position. "We'd be able to see the compound it weren't for this dammed storm."

A few moments passed in silence, then she could hear slight mumbles from Cross.

"How do you feel?"

The mumbling continued.

"Nate..?"

"The numbing effect is spreading."

"Shit! It's probably from the impact of our collision." She pulled up his wrist com quick, forgetting it was his bad arm.

He gritted his teeth at this, fighting the drool that was beginning to fall.

"Sorry." She pulled up his medical readout. "Well… you have a minor fracture in your femur and ankle, in addition to your arm. That could be why it's flooding your system with painkillers."

"Fuuuck." He whined as he pulled the line of his chute to direct their landing.

"Once we land, and you get on your feet you'll appreciate the numbness."

"Well, get ready to cut the line. Here's hoping the ground is soft."

They landed hard onto a lightly powered jagged ice ground. The wind bore down on them as they scrambled on all fours to find their footing. Cross was in agony. His bad arm took the brunt of his fall, and as soon as he put his weight on his leg the jolt of pain maid him cry out. Vai was busy detaching herself from him, and trying her best to keep calm as the snow and ice pummeled her.

Once they were detached Vai stood, and pulled out her map. "It's a little under 2 klicks from our present position."

"Alright. Ahhh… help me up."

She walked over to him, digging her feet into any lump of snow she could find to gain stability. Wrapping his bad arm over her shoulder they hobbled for a few minutes, as they barely covered ground. Cross stumbled on a hidden jagged ice rock, and nearly pulled them both down.

"Alright, I'm carrying you."

"No… I got this."

"Now's not the time to worry about your pride Nate! We are running out of time. C'mon." She lugged him up into her arms in a bridal hold, and began to trudge on at a good pace.

"What pride..?"

She coughed out a chuckle at this, "You're a lot heavier than I remember."

"Thank you."

Once they were a few meters away from their target she lowered him down, and they hobbled over to the control room.

"Looks like it will be the same process for this one." Vai said leaning back against the wall catching her breath."

Cross closed the door behind him, and used every wall, table, and pipe to get him over to the control panel. "Seems like it." He ran the side of his gloved hand over the ice and dust covered screen. Finding the jump port he pulled at his cable on his suit and plugged in.

"Be sure to get as much data as you can." She slumped down to sit, with her arms crossed behind her neck.

"The rest of the devices have been deactivated."

"Good."

"But… they seem to have a backup system."

"What?!" She jumped up to her feet and leaned over him to view the screen.

"We may have less time than we thought."

Vai looked forward in deep thought, and crossed her arms.

"What's the plan Captain?"

She took in a deep breath. And began to type some quick codes into her com. Nodding to herself she went over to the main control panel and initiated the shutdown of the device. "We will have 5 minutes to transport back to our pod, send a message to the Argo, and complete a transwarp transport."

He looked at her in disbelief, but knew there was no other option. "Okay."

She pulled him up and readied her com to begin the sequence. There were no words that could be said at that moment. Cross took in a deep breath, and readied himself to run.

"S _hutdown initiated. Warning. Mass reboot will result in internal EMP surge. Make sure all devices are insulated."_

"We have to get some of that insulation." Cross said through gritted teeth as he was mostly pulled along by Vai.

Once they cleared the building they beamed up to their tiny pod.

"Captain! We are on course. I'm processing the calculations." Lal said over the pods com.

"Will the pod work? Or should we be free of it?"

"Wait what?!" Cross chimed in.

"That could work… Yes… I'll synchronize to your bio suits."

"I trust you Lal." Vai said activating her suit, and checking her re-breather settings. "Oh, have doc on the ready. Cross is injured."

"You're both going to need a doc after this."

"I know." Vai released the hatch and switched over to her suit com.

"Rendezvous in 180 seconds." Came in Lal.

"We're waiting." Vai playfully held out her thumb in an ancient hitchhiking gesture.

"Always wondered what transwarp would look like from outside the ship." Cross said floating next to her.

" I doubt we'll seeeeeahhhhhbbwwwweehhh…."

Bright light blinded Vai and her body felt as though it were being torn to pieces. The first sensation she had was sharp tingling in her fingertips and toes. Then the sudden impact of her body on the transport pad. She could feel her body being handled. With each touch her skin burned, and every time she tried to speak she couldn't figure out how to use her mouth.

"Just take them to medical! We'll do a full decon later." Ordered Dr. Amber through the chaos.


	14. Chapter 14

The rhythmic hum of the medical instruments roused Vai from a very deep and painful sleep. It hurt to open her eyes. Taking in a deep breath her body shuttered.

"Careful. You just left stasis." Dr. Amber said coming up to her bedside.

Vai brought her hand up to her brow and grumbled. "How's Cross?"

"Still in stasis, but he'll pull through."

Vai pulled herself up to sit. She was in a loose hospital gown. "What's our status?" She asked as she brought her legs over the side of her bed.

"After your recovery act we retraced the Borg warp signature. But quickly lost it once we entered this quadrant, Lal babbled something about ion storm, refractory… I'm a Doctor Captain, not a expert on spacial anomalies." She crossed her arms when she realized Vai was looking for her suit. "I recommend you get some more rest, seeing as your body just went through some heavy trauma."

"My legs are restless." She stood up, still holding the edge of her bed.

"Just stay in the containment fields if you want to walk around. Can't have you undoing all my work."

Vai worked her way across the room to Cross. He was in a zero gravity stasis. The automated system was currently rotating him, as the main scanner arm light beamed over his injured leg. Looking over to the main panel she read his femur reconstruction was nearly complete.

She took a seat next to him and watched him as he was scanned over fully once more. As the bright light passed over his shoulders she began to notice scars she didn't recognize. She stared at them, trying to decipher their origin. She continued to stare, despite him leaving stasis. Her gaze was more looking through him, into their past, to the Nate she remembered. She could still feel a faint bond between them, but she did not recognize this man before her.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Croaked Cross.

She blinked herself out of her trance. "Just thinking about how much of a stranger you are to me."

"Geese, your bedside manner needs work."

She didn't respond to this.

He tested out his hand by bending his fingers then lifted his arm up, and gripped her hand. "Looks like my arm works again."

With his touch she felt a wave of his emotions pass through to her. They were jumbled, and mostly chaotic, but within them she could sense fragments of Nate. She had to fight the urge to release herself from his grasp because of these sensations. She wanted to know what the chaos was from, she needed to know. "What happened to you Nate?"

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "I lost myself, back during the Dominion war."

Confusing flash memories traveled across their bond.

"Something happened to me that I cannot explain... All I know is that my answers are here in this galaxy."


	15. Chapter 15

Leeda was mid stride on mile five when her vision started to blur. She slowed her pace, and adjusted the simulated terrain on the treadmill. It had been almost a week since their recovery, and she resorted to sneaking into the exercise room while the Doctor was off duty. For once she appreciated that most of the medical crew was automated holograms.

Since she returned she had been put on light observation. Her hormone levels seemed to balance out, but there were some inconsistencies. She cursed the Orion culture for being so secretive with their medical records. The doctor was working overtime with Lal trying to figure out what some possible treatments were.

Finishing her run, albeit a bit disappointed at only accomplishing 7 miles, she slipped into the back shower room and got herself cleaned up. As she zipped her suit up, the ship shuddered, and she gripped the lockers edge to keep her footing. Tapping her com she activated her popup screen. "Emini report?"

"Dammed transwarp coil giving me hell again. I think we will have to find a replacement for sure now."

"Is that possible?"

"We're intergalactic tradesmen explorers… should be able to part together a highly sophisticated piece of technology in a uncharted and dangerous galaxy."

Leeda squinted and stared at Emini, she couldn't feel confident with this statement.

"Relax," came in the Captain from behind Emini, "Lal has a few deliveries lined up for us. We'll get what we need from those outposts."

Leeda nodded and closed out her com screen. Securing her wet hair into a tight bun she left the gym, and headed for the bridge. Moral had been all over the place since the last quadrant. Yes they survived against all odds, but it was a hollow victory. They lost their lead, and were back to being just tradesmen. As she entered the bridge her body got a quick jolt of fluster.

"Oh. Hey Leeda."

"Hi Yoc- Lieutenant."

He smiled at this and continued to work. "Feel like you can call me Yoci now."

She looked around. Only two holo crew members were stationed at the helm. She felt this embarrassingly powerful bond to Yoci, and had noticed she could not help but be near him if they were in the same room. No one, aside from the doctor knew about what happened between them, and they planned to keep it that way. Yoci seemed to slip back into his usual ways, where she was left in this perpetual blur of emotions.

"So how's your treatment going?"

"Oh, nowhere. Got the Doc and Lal stumped."

"That's pretty impressive, stumping the all powerful Lal."

"I guess that's something." She said now seated on the ground next to where he was working, lightly running the back of her fingernails down from his knee to his thigh.

She had no idea she was doing this, nor did Yoci react to it. He simply kept working on the panel. They carried on with their light conversation and her light petting. When he slid out from under the panel and reached over for his bag he unconsciously kissed her on the cheek.

With this they both had a moment of clarity. And said in unison. "Something is wrong."

"We should go to medical." Yoci said offering her his hand to pull her up.

She took a more sensual pleasure in his touch. Which he equally reciprocated.

Through gasps, and intense kissing she hummed out, "medical."

"My room is closer." He said pulling her in even tighter.

"Ok. But we can't be seen like this."

He quickly put his tool kit back together, then used his foot to close the panel. "See you there."

He darted out of the bridge, and she waited impatiently at her station a few moments till she quickly followed after him. On her way out of the bridge she bumped into Ten who was accompanied by Lal.

"Sorry Ten."

"It's fine. Is everything okay?"

"Yes… Just have to meet with Yoci about a repair. Urgent. Sorry." She said most of this walking backwards, then quickly spun around and dashed down the corridor.

"Must be reprimanding him for this shoddy repair job. This is so unlike him." Lal said examining the panel that had a slight dent.

"I don't know. I didn't get the usual imposing vibe she gives off."

"Could be from their recent incident on that planet. Seems to have messed with her hormones."

"Isn't it doctor protocol to not discuss private matters."

"I'm a scientist, not a doctor. And you're like my boyfriend, so it's okay between us." She said opening the panel, and beginning to sort out the jumble of cables.

Ten stood back, and leaned against the tactical station. His body felt a surge of energy, starting from his center, and working it's way down his extremities. Sweat formed on his brow, and his cheeks flushed. His mind was a blur till he felt Lal touch his brow.

"Your temperature is 39 °C, and your endorphins have elevated, as well as you oxytocin."

"Sure you're not a doctor?" He said with a very uncharacteristic side smile.

She however knew that expression from back on the rave ship. "Fascinating." She decided to investigate further. Looking behind Ten she realized he had his hands against Leeda's tactical panel. Scanning over the panel she found Orion pheromone particles. Taking a sample she felt Ten grab her shoulder.

"Lal I feel strange."

"Don't worry it's just the effects of Leeda's pheromones."

"Wouldn't that make me horny right now?"

She fully turned to take in his countenance with what he just said. Scanned him over once with her com, then looked him in the eyes. "I think because you are mostly Borg your tech doesn't know how to react to the hormones. Which incidentally explains why you're so socially awkward too. Also 'horny,' that is not a word I'd ever expect you to say.

"Touch me."

"I stand corrected." She said with wide eyes.

"No, just. Humor me." He said with more composure.

"Okay." She raised her hand up to cup the side of his face.

His skin flushed, and he sighed.

"Not going to lie this is super weird. But I'm also totally okay with this too."

"It's not enough."

"Don't worry, I have another hand." She fanned her fingers of her opposite hand.

"No, with this." He brought his hand up to the back of her head, and the tip of his finger popped up and a cable laced through her hair and into a access port.

"Oh muuuyyyahhhhh." Her voice trailed off into a hollow tiny moan.

"Good?"

She answered with a feral barrage of kisses, and tearing at his suit. This continued on the spot, despite the holo crew working around them.

….

Meanwhile, Vai was walking through the narrow passage between the warp and transwarp engines. Betwixt the adjoining panels she found a standard issue thermal blanket, and heavily embroidered Bajoran pillow tossed off the side. Darting around the corner, in her blind spot was Emini, buzzing around the different panels trying to keep up with the three diagnostics that were currently running.

"Anyone ever tell you have a unhealthy relationship with your job?" Vai said gathering up the blanket and pillow.

"I am in a very committed healthy relationship Captain." All the lights on the panel went green, showing all systems were normal. "And here is proof."

"Still need to locate some raw materials. I don't like us having no backups. We can't be limping around a uncharted galaxy."

"Hey I'm nearly better." chimed in Cross who had just walked up behind her.

She shook her head and patted Emini's shoulder. "Get that list to Lal asap."

"Yes Captain."

Vai offered her free arm to Cross, which he took. They traversed the narrow passage and through the main doors.

"Supplies for the engine room sleepover?"

Vai cocked her head, then realized she was still holding Emini's stuff.

"Are you questioning my methods for running my ship Nate?"

"No… You just- you just have a very interesting crew."

"They are dedicated Nate. Dedication to their Captain, the cause, the … Shit!"

On entering the bridge they were front row to an orgy of crew members making love all about the bridge.

"Dedication to the cause indeed." Cross chided.

Scanning over the bridge she realized that the only non holo crew members were Lal and Ten.

"Lal! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Leedaaaaahhhhs… phereAaahhmones."

"Did you two do drugs again?!"

"Noooahh…"

Cross recognising Ten's Borg lines laced into Lal's skull and chest panels, he hobbled up to them and issued a single shock from his com to the back of Ten's neck, rendering him unconscious.

Ten's lead lines from his fingertips retracted, and his hands fell limp onto the ground.

"Thanks, I think?" Lal said as she still sat startled ontop the the fully naked Ten.

Vai draped the blanket over her shoulders to cover Lal's also naked body.

"Care to explain?"

"You're not going to believe it, but this was all Ten's fault."

"Really?" Vai said through gritted teeth as she looked around at the still fornicating holo crew around them.

Lal looked around, and nodded. "He must of accessed the ship hologram crew protocol files in my programming."

"Want to give them a break?" Cross asked as he looked in wonder at the odd position the three bridge crew members were performing on the helm."

"That would be a throne throbber, best not try that unless-"

"Lal turn it off please." Vai cut in.

"Yes Captain."

The orgy disappeared and the two helmsmen were replaced and back to normal operations.

Vai walked over to the tactical panel.

"Careful that's how Ten got infected!?

Vai lifted up her hands quickly. "How?"

"He touched Leeda's panel. She can spread whatever this is by her touch."

"I would have noticed something by now. We have been sparing on and off this last week."

Lal tied her blanket, and scanned over Vai. "Oh that Vulcan immunity thingy. But what about Cross?" She turned her scanner over to him. "Any odd feelings, or temptations Agent?"

"Throne Throbber?"

"Alright! Lal, get Ten to medical. Wait." She punched in a code. "Ensign Lucero, be sure they make it to medical." She draped Lal and Ten's discarded suits over Lucero's arm.

"You're no fun Captain." Lal pouted, as she threw Ten over her shoulder with ease.

Cross laid the discarded pillow over Tens backside, to give him some dignity.

Once she left they both stood in silence. Cross had a smug face, wondering what Vai was going to do. Vai, noticing this, had a hard time concentrating.

"What are you gonna do Captain?" He said through a stifled giggle.

She shook her head with this. "Well we can just stay on this heading for now. It will be three days before we reach the next outpost."

For a split second the helmsmen flashed and were back in their previous position, and with another quick flash they were back in their seats.

Vai tapped her com, "Doctor, are Lal and Ten in medical?"

"Yes, Captain. Though I had a helluva time prying Ten off of Lal just a second ago."

"Please tell me you have a containment suit on."

"Yes Captain. I am putting Ten under for the time being too."

"That would be a good idea. Thank you. Keep me updated on your progress." Vai went over to Ten's station and began to open up the holo program operations.

"What position will we see now?"

"You know Vulcans can't be affected by Orion's right?"

"Yes, and you're the reason I am not affected too."

Her ears dropped at this, she was sensing the memory he was having of when he told her he still loved her.

"Captain." Lal came in over the com.

Taking in a deep breath in relief Vai tapped her own com. "Yes Lal."

"I think I found out what is happening."

"Good. I'm on my way." She tapped a few codes in, fully turning over the Holo controls over to herself for now. Then offered her arm to Cross.

The Doctor and Lal stood before the group, as Cross and Vai sat at the table. Behind them Emini was over the Com in the safety of her engine room.

"As we all know, the Orion people have a very secretive society when it comes to their culture. Our first impression of their culture was based on a facade, and we all know how that went down." Lal brought up a map of the planet Leeda and Yoci were recently on. "Now from what the Doctor and I were able to surmise, is that the planet they were just on had a similar pattern to that of Rigel VII, and was exhibiting the exact weather to induce Orion female estrous."

"So how long will this last?" Vai asked.

"Until she gets pregnant." The Doctor answered.

"Can't you adjust her hormone levels to make her body think she is pregnant?" Vai quickly returned.

The Doctor brought down the image of the planet, and the room lights brightened. "There is little information on the Orion Biology, and even with the help of Lal we were only able to get this far. If I were to perform any procedure on her I do not know if I would be doing irreparable damage."

Vai pinched her lower lip in thought. "How compatible are Cardasian/Bajoran genes to Orion?"

"From our initial tests not very. But her physiology is ever changing with the stages of her condition. Since she has chosen a mate her body will adjust to fulfill the need."

Vai marveled at how delicate the Doctor put that, and tried to ignore Lal's slight smirk. "Well, how likely is the crew going to be affected if they remain in their… Isolation?" Vai recovered.

"Her pheromones are highly unstable, and keep gaining strength. Emini will remain in the Engine room with constant independent sterilized air filtration, Ten will remain sedated; Lal's chin pipped at this, and you two?"

"We'll be fine." Vai quickly answered.

The Doctor showed a brief sign of understanding with a nod, then took in a deep breath. "Well then, we will all just have to play the waiting game then."

A few days later Cross was trying his best to distract himself with work. Their last outpost was a bust. So they were set on a new heading, which would take them hopefully to the resources Emini desperately needed for the warp engine. The staff were still quarantined. The Doctor eventually decided to intervene, though it was over the habitat settings. She didn't dare leave the safety of the medical bay.

Cross had limited interactions with Vai. She seemed to always be busy with some project when he came around. With each passing day his mind was filled with thoughts of her. He chalked it up to being affected by Leeda's pheromones. Hearing some moans through the wall his mind slipped into yet again another memory. Shaking his head, he dropped his tools and rubbed his face. "I need to take a walk." He said to himself picking up his padd.

After about a half hour he somehow ended up standing in front of Vai's personal quarters. He without hesitation pressed the button. She most likely would be in Engineering, Cross reassured himself, after immediately regretting his actions.

Unfortunately she was not. She opened the door, standing in a silk robe holding a cup of tea. "Nate? What is it?"

"Can I come in?" Wait what?! His mind screamed.

Her brow raised, as she ushered him in.

He walked forward, though his conscience was telling him this was wrong.

"You okay Nate?"

"Honestly I'm not sure." He eventually stopped and stood still in her sitting area, looking to the shrine he suddenly became distracted by all the momentos she had on the shelves.

"Tea?"

"You kept them." He said looking at the rings.

She nodded, and took in a deep breath as she stood back in thought. Her mind was in two places, one in their very difficult conversation, and in the turbulent wave of emotions Nate was transferring through their bond. She inched her way over to the couch and sat down.

Unconsciously he followed her and sat closer than he probably should have.

After a long two minutes of silence Cross cleared his voice. "I feel weird when I'm not near you."

"It's our bond. It's barely holding up with Leeda's pheromones." She sipped her tea nonchalantly.

"You know the worst part about the passage of time for me?"

She used her cup to hide her grimace, she really didn't want to hear this.

"It was how our bond withered over the years." He gripped his hands together on his lap, and kept his eyes trained on the rings. "Every day I felt a part of you slip away. I tried to tell myself it was for the best, that you were healing. That you were moving on. But at the same time that meant I was losing you."

"Did you not have a choice?" She said, keeping her eyes trained on the cup of tea in her lap.

He hunched forward, and buried his face in his hands. A surge of images flooded Vai's mind, and her body quaked as she tried to sort it all out.

"Yes, I had a choice. But with what I had seen I couldn't with good conscience say no."

The emotions he had all began to read as sorrow and pain. Vai put her mug aside, and reached over to Nate's shoulder to pull him to sit up. He didn't protest, though he tried his best to wipe away a tear as he tried to return his composure.

"Aehh.." He took in a deep breath and smoothed his hair down. "Orion pheromones are potent."

Wanting to stay on subject Vai pushed her question. "What happened back during the war?"

"My head is killing me right now Vai. Can we not talk about that?"

Vai knew he was dodging, so she inched toward him and brought her fingers up to his temple. In their bond she said "You don't have to use your words to tell me."

He snatched her hand before she could make contact. "No!" His voice cancelled out any images or thoughts transferring.

For the longest moment they sat staring at one another in absolute silence. Their bond seemed to be nullified. Vai was shocked by the power of his mind, this was something she never felt before from him.

Her knuckle eventually popped from his grip, and her brow twitched from the sudden sound. Their bond was still silent. It could be felt faintly, but it was just based on feeling. Vai felt pain from this vacancy, a pain that she had masked for years.

Cross could feel her pain, he felt that she was open to him right now despite him closing her out. He winced from the stress of holding back from her. Flashes of scenes from her memories transferred over to him as she beckoned him to open up to her. He leaned into her and rested his forehead against hers. With every last bit of his strength he transferred one thing over to her. "I am not ready to show you what happened."

"I'm here for when you are." She quickly responded over their bond.

Warmth returned to their bond, she was still barred from complete access, but at least she wasn't locked out.

He kissed her on the forehead and then stood up. "Thank you." He said being the first person to speak in the room in some time.

She smiled at this and brought her legs up under herself on the couch.

"I best be off before the Doc thinks the pheromones are affecting me too."

"Are they?" Vai bounced her brow comically, she couldn't resist teasing him, especially after the episode they just shared.

"Don't tempt me Vai, you know it took very little when it came to you. Now I best be off, I was in the middle of a project that I need to finish." With that he left her quarters.

Vai smiled to herself with this, then quickly shook it off. 'What are you doing Vai?' She took a sip of her now cool tea. Taking in a deep breath she knew sleep was not going to come, so she resolved to meditate to attempt to regulate her thoughts.


End file.
